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The Impact: In defence of a cruel industry

Industry groups have come out swinging to defend their cruel practices but no one's 'buying' it.

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It's hard to believe anybody can argue against giving farm animals quality of life and protection from cruelty but that's exactly what industry groups have been doing since the launch of Make it Possible.

The factory farm lobby is in damage control, knowing that now their secrets are out and consumers have the knowledge to make kinder choices — they are doing just that. And never has the power of consumer choice been so evident.

Commenting on Make it Possible to Ch 10's The Project, the CEO of Australian Pork Limited stated — "Consumers are ultimately the dictators of the success of our industry — so if they're not happy with what we're doing as an industry, we are in big trouble."

Factory farming - out of style

All the signs are leading to the fact that factory farming is on the nose.

More than 70,000 Australians have already pledged to make a world without factory farming possible — by refusing factory-farmed, eating fewer animal products, or by going meat-free. Tasmania and the ACT are ending cage egg production. Major retailers are also making positive changes. Leading chefs are speaking out against factory farming as have some of Australia's most respected identities who all know that the key to change for these animals is an informed and empowered consumer. The very thing factory farmers fear most.

Defending the indefensible

But instead of reassessing their practices, the industry is vehemently defending the system — a system that confines 12 million egg laying hens in battery cages; forces thousands of mother pigs to give birth and live for weeks on end in crates barely bigger than their bodies; allows piglets to have their teeth cut and tails cut off without pain relief; and subjects 'meat' chickens to such rapid growth that their bodies can barely sustain them.

The desperation of an industry defending the indefensible is reflected in the bizarre claims being put forward — from 'hens in cages are safe from the weather' and 'are likely to live longer' — to factory farmed pigs are protected from 'climatic extremes'.

But the worst defence is in fact a deception, with APL stating that "sows in our country will not be subjected to sow stalls by 2017". Indeed they can be — for up to 10 days per pregnancy. This is what APL calls a 'phase-out'. Major retailers, Coles and Woolworths have already rejected this new pig industry standard due to the great suffering caused by sow stalls and knowing that their customers would never support it.

You have the power

These industries would prefer that the spotlight wasn't on them because so many of their practices are indefensible. But as APL alluded, the customer is always right — and now the customer knows exactly what goes on in factory farms, they have the knowledge to vote for change through the choices they make every day.

MAKE IT POSSIBLE is funded entirely by public donations. Animals Australia depends on your generosity to continue vital work to expose and end animal abuse. If you believe, as we do, that animals deserve freedom from cruelty, please give generously today.